


New Worlds

by DragonStar84



Category: Monsters Inc (2001)
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-01-06 09:12:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12208218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonStar84/pseuds/DragonStar84
Summary: When Sully finally gets to see Boo again he finds out her parents have recently died and he tries to help Boo and her older sister through the difficult time.





	1. Chapter 1

“Mary honey, you need to go to sleep now,” Abby said trying to get her sister to settle down.

 

“I want kitty,” Mary said pointing at her closet door and starting to climb out of bed.

 

“Don’t you dare get out of that bed, I’ll look for the kitty,” Abby said blocking Mary from getting out of bed before she walked over and opened the closet door, “See there’s no kitty in your closet,” she told her.

 

“Okay,” Mary replied sadly before finally laying down, tears brimming her eyes.

 

“Maybe we can get a kitten when you‘re a little older, how would you like that?” Abby asked.

 

“No,” Mary replied firmly, “I want kitty come back,” she said pointing to a drawing of a blue and purple creature that she had hung next to her bed.

 

“Okay, then we’ll wait and see if that kitty comes back,” Abby told her before kissing her and pulling the blankets up over her.

 

Mary grabbed her hand, “Stay with me?” she begged.

 

“I have some things I need to do, but I’ll sleep in here tonight as soon as I’m done, just like last night, okay?” Abby said.

 

“Okay, goodnight sissy,” Mary said.

 

“Goodnight,” Abby told her before stepping out of the room and shutting the door.

 

She leaned against the wall for a moment relived to have finally gotten Mary to bed, but at the same time worried about how persistently she had been asking for the imaginary cat she had dreamt up almost a year earlier. At first Mary had to check her closet multiple times before she could be convinced to go to bed and she always insisted there was a kitty hiding in there. After a while she had given up looking, at least until their parents had been killed in a car crash, then she had begun to persistently search for the kitty again, became sadder and sadder each time she couldn’t find it.

 

Abby headed into the living room and was just about to sit down to attempt to relax a little when there was a knock at the door. When she answered it she was greeted by a short balding man in his mid-thirties and she instantly regretted answering the door.

 

“I was just wondering if you had made a decision regarding the offer I made you?” Mr. Harrison said.

 

“I’m planning on staying here,” Abby replied.

 

“But you really don’t need such a big house for just you and your sister, it’ll just be more work for you to keep up with the house work, not to mention that yard. Don’t you think you’d be better off in an apartment where you would have someone to take care of the yard and repairs?” Mr. Harrison asked.

 

“No, I think I’m better off here, in my home. My dad has the house fully paid off, so I don’t have to worry about paying rent and I’m sure I can handle the house and yard work just fine,” Abby told him trying to stay patient.

 

“But just think of how much the money from selling this place would help you out, especially with college expenses and raising your sister.”

 

“I’m sure we’ll get along just as well staying here,” Abby replied.

 

“But-”

 

“No,” Abby said angrily cutting him off, “I’m not selling the house, and even if I was desperate for money I’d never sell it to you, just so you can tear it down and put in a repair garage. How dare you even ask, was it even twenty four hours after my parents died when you first asked? And now you show up asking again on the day of their funeral and after nine thirty when you know my little sister should be asleep and you could have woken her knocking at the door? I want you off my property now and don’t come back or the next time the only warning you’ll get to leave is the cocking of my father’s hunting rifle,” Abby told him before shutting the door, barely restraining herself from slamming it.

 

She stormed back into the living room and paced back and forth for a while, so tense and stressed over her limit that she just wanted to scream, that always seemed to help relieve a decent amount of tension when she was stressed, but that would wake Mary. At the moment she was so stressed that that wouldn’t have stopped her, but she knew Mary would want to know what was wrong and she had to be strong, had to act like she was alright to keep Mary from getting any more upset. She knew Mary was as devastated as she was by their parent’s death, but as long as Abby held it together Mary seemed to be easily distracted during the day. A couple of times at night Abby had heard her crying and would go into her room and rock her to sleep, then started just staying with her at night and now she seemed to be handling it okay. Abby on the other hand didn’t have anyone to turn to, her only close friend from college was over two hours away for summer break.They talked on the phone, but it just wasn’t as comforting as having someone there. After the last several days of stress and heartbreak it seemed to have finally become too much for her to bear and Abby curled up onto the couch and cried.

 

About half an hour later Abby headed towards Mary’s room, when she didn’t hear any noise she wondered if she might be able to get away with sleeping in her own bed tonight. She was still so tense she knew she’d never actually sleep, just toss and turn most of the night as she had been since her parent’s death. For a second she thought about heading to the basement and looking for a nice big spider, she could crush it on the floor, get a good stress relieving scream and just tell Mary it had dropped onto her, then maybe she could sleep. Unfortunately she realized from the burning of her eyes it was probably obvious that she had been crying and Mary would surely notice that.

 

She was just about to head to her room when she heard Mary say ’kitty’ she was going to just keep going and hope that Mary was dreaming until Mary let out an excited squeal and yelled ’kitty!’.  Abby immediately darted to Mary’s door and threw it open, half expecting to see some mangy ally cat that Mary had snuck into the house, it wouldn’t have been the first time.

 

When she stepped through the door she froze for a moment, standing at the foot end of Mary’s bed, holding Mary was a huge seven and half foot tall monster. She was dreaming, she had cried herself to sleep on the couch and was clearly dreaming. She had never been the type of person to scream when she was frightened, but even if it was a dream she still could feel all that tension and decided a nightmare was a good enough excuse and let loose all that stress and tension in a deafening scream, so loud it made her head hurt.

 

The monster quickly set Mary down on her bed then ran towards Abby, “Stop you’ll-” he stopped, clamping his hand over Abby’s mouth just as a light seemed to flicker from inside the closet before going out, “blow the door,” he finished.

 

Abby grabbed at his hand and tried to push it away, but he was far too strong, so she settled for glaring at him.

 

“Promise you won’t scream again and I’ll let you go, okay?” he asked.

 

Abby nodded her head and he slowly released her. As soon as she was free Abby grabbed Mary and started to back towards the bedroom door while the monster walked to the closet door, opened it and groaned. As soon as he had opened the closet Mary started to struggle to get away from Abby. Finally unable to keep a hold of her Abby set Mary down and tried to grab her hand, but Mary slipped away and ran to the monster.

 

Mary grabbed his leg and clung to him, “Kitty don’t leave,” she cried desperately.

 

“It’s okay Boo, I’m not leaving you,” the monster said as he picked her up.

 

Abby flipped on the bedroom light and couldn’t believe what she was seeing, with the light on she could make out the colors of the monster’s fur and realized it was the same creature that Mary had been drawing.

 

“What’s going on here?” Abby finally asked still not entirely sure whether she was awake or dreaming.

 

“Kitty came back,” Mary said smiling happily at Abby before snuggling into the monster’s fur.

 

“Um- well it’s kind of a long story-” he started until he looked up from Mary, looked at Abby and a look of concern crossed his face, “Are you okay?” he asked.

 

“Sure, why wouldn’t I be okay, there’s a giant monster standing in my sister’s room holding her, why wouldn’t I be okay?” Abby replied sarcastically, although she faltered a little towards the end,  he looked so genuinely concerned and she had given herself such a headache screaming that she just couldn‘t seem to hold on to any anger, she just wanted it to be over so she could go to bed.

 

“That’s not what I meant, you look like you’ve been crying,” he said.

 

Before Abby could reply tears filled Mary’s eyes, “She’s sad mommy and daddy went away and not coming back, they put them in the ground today,” she said before burring her face in his fur.

 

“I’m so sorry. The last thing you needed right now was a monster showing up,” he said.

 

Abby looked at him for a minute, Mary curled up in his arms dozing off, one hand holding tightly to his fur, she still had tears running down her face, but otherwise she looked more content than she had since their parents had died, “No, I don’t how you know my sister or what’s going on here or if this is even real, but you couldn’t have come at a better time, she needed you,” she finally said, then added, “And I was hoping for a good excuse to just scream and let off some of the tension of the day.”

 

“You have good lungs, that’s for sure. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone scream quite that loud and I’ve heard a lot of screams,” he said then told her, “I’m James Sullivan, but everyone just calls me Sully.”

 

“Abby Gibbs. Now you’re welcome to come back, I really want to know what’s going on here, but I’m too tired to deal with it tonight, so if you’d just give me my sister and go back to where ever you came from I’d appreciate it,” she told him.

 

All of a sudden, Mary who had appeared to have fallen asleep was wide awake and screamed ‘no’ while twisting both of her fists tightly enough in Sully’s fur to make him flinch, “Kitty not leave, mommy and daddy left, said they’d come back, they didn’t, kitty stay,” she cried, fresh tears streaming down her face.

 

“It’s okay, it’s okay Boo, I’m not going anywhere, I’ll stay with you,” Sully assured her as he gingerly tried to loosen her hands from his fur.

 

“You can’t stay here all night,” Abby told him.

 

“I don’t have a choice, you broke the door when you screamed,” Sully told her, sitting down and leaning back against the wall while still trying to get Mary calmed down.

 

“What exactly does that mean? The door looks fine,” Abby asked.

 

“The door on my side was damaged, it’s complicated, but basically the door works as a portal between our two worlds, it’s powered by laughter or screams. An adult’s scream is too powerful though, but hopefully it just blew a fuse or something and will be fixed before too long. Until it’s fixed I’m stuck here,” he told her, “Even if I wasn’t I wouldn’t be leaving yet,” he said gently rubbing Mary’s back and trying to calm her down.

 

“Alright,” Abby relented.

 

Abby was about to sit down on the bed when Mary reached out one hand for her, “Sissy stay with me too,” she said.

 

Abby reluctantly sat down next to Sully and took Mary’s hand in hers, Mary suddenly smiled, “Kitty gone long time and come back, maybe mommy and daddy just gone long time and come back?”

 

Abby’s heart broke as she said, “No honey, they’re not coming back, not so we can see them, but I’ll bet they’re still watching out for us and can still hear us if we talk to them.”

 

“I want to hug mommy, want to see her. Never see her again?” Mary asked.

 

“Someday, but not for a really, really long time, when we’re old,” Abby told her.

 

Mary just sighed sadly, more tears falling from her eyes as she laid her head against Sully’s chest and finally started to doze off again, her hand still firmly holding onto Abby’s.

 

Abby quickly swiped at her eyes with her free hand, desperately trying to control her own tears. Suddenly a large arm wrapped around her, pulling her closer to Sully.

 

“You’re allowed to cry too,” he told her.

 

“I have to be strong for Mary, it’ll just upset her more if she sees me crying,” Abby replied already losing her battle against her tears.

 

“She’s asleep,” he replied, gently tightening his arm around her shoulders.

 

Abby finally gave in and let herself cry quietly, laying her head against his chest she was asleep within minutes.


	2. Chapter 2

When Abby woke up she was in Mary’s bed, but there was no sign of Mary. For a second she thought the monster had been a dream, until she herd him and Mary start laughing downstairs.

 

“Okay, so my life officially can’t get any stranger,” she said as she got out of bed.

 

When she got downstairs she found Sully crawling around the dining room table, looking under the chairs. Mary was laying across the seats of two of the chairs, grinning as she watched him poke his head under the table next to the chair she was on.

 

“Are you two having fun?” Abby asked then flinched as Sully’s head shot up and hit the bottom of the table right next to the chair Mary was hiding on.

 

Sully only hesitated a second then smiled and said, “There you are,” as he reached for Mary.

 

She slipped off the chairs and over to where Abby was, “We’re having lots of fun,” Mary said as Abby scooped her up.

 

“Good, have you had any breakfast yet?” Abby asked her as she walked into the kitchen then stopped when she spotted the empty sink and clean counters.

 

“Yep, Kitty got me breakfast and did the dishes and I told him where to put them,” Mary replied.

 

Abby turned back to Sully and said, “You know how I told you, you needed to leave last night?”

 

“Yes,” Sully replied.

 

“Forget it, if you do dishes you can stay as long as you like. Thank you,” Abby told him.

 

“It was nothing, you have enough to worry about, including me being stuck here, it was the least I could do,” he replied.

 

“So explain to me again how it is you got here, why you can’t get home and how you know my sister,” Abby said as she got her breakfast.

 

When he finished explaining Abby just shook her head, “I can’t believe this, when she disappeared that day we all freaked out, but when she showed up again and insisted she had been in her closet we thought she had just been hiding in there and we had somehow missed her. I‘m glad you were so determined to get her home, I don‘t know how I would have gotten through this past week without her. She‘s all I have really, neither of my parents had any family in the state and I never really got to meet Diane‘s family other than a few times.”

 

“Who is Diane?” Sully asked.

 

“Mary’s mom and my step mom, my parents got married right out of high school and I was born on their first anniversary. Mom got cancer when I was ten and died less than a year later. Dad married Diane about four years ago, even though I was an adult at the time she still became like a mom to me and one of my best friends. I still can’t believe they’re gone,” Abby said as she got up and set her dishes in the sink, keeping her back to Sully as she tried to fight back tears.

 

“You’ll make it through this,” Sully said resting his hand comfortingly on her shoulder.

 

“Stop it,” Abby said shoving his hand away as she lost her battle against her tears, then without even thinking about what she was doing she turned and hugged him tightly, her tears flowing more freely as he wrapped his arms around her “My dad used to do that, if I was upset he’d try to comfort me, but any physical contact and I just totally break down. A few times when it wasn’t something terribly serious that I was upset about he’d hug me just to make me cry. I hate how easily I cry,”

 

“There’s nothing wrong with crying, especially after what you’ve been through. Don’t ever tell anyone this, but I took a week off of work and didn’t leave my apartment the whole time when my grandfather died. We were close and I totally lost it. Spent more time crying that week than I probably had in the entire rest of my life. It’s better to cry now than let that misery build up until you blow up,” Sully told her.

 

“I guess you’re right,” Abby agreed then smiled, “I can’t believe you ever could have scared anyone, sure you’re big, but you’re like a giant teddy bear.”

 

“No problem telling you and Boo are sisters, anyone else would think I was scary and you two think I’m a big softy,” Sully said.

 

“It seems like that’s exactly what you are,” Abby replied.

 

“Yeah, well, just don’t tell anyone, I’ve got a reputation as being one the best scarers before we switched to laugh power and I’d like to keep it that way,” Sully told her.

 

“Alright, I promise I won’t tell,” Abby replied.

 

“I want a hug too,” Mary said as she walked into the kitchen then climbed up onto a chair next to Sully and reached out to him.

 

Sully released Abby then turned to Mary, “You need a hug, are you sure?” he asked, when she nodded he swept her up into his arms and hugged her.

 

\-------

 

A little while later Mary had dragged Sully off to her room to show him all her toys and drawings, giving Abby a chance to finally sit down and just relax with a book she had been wanting to read. A couple hours later Abby noticed that it had gotten very quiet and she decided to check on Mary. When she got to Mary’s room she had to clamp a hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing.

 

Sully was sitting on the floor with Mary standing on a chair behind him so she could reach his head. The fur on top of his head had been separated into little tufts that were held with a couple dozen little bow and flower shaped barrettes and several different colors of hair ribbons had been wrapped around his horns.

 

Abby silently left the room before being noticed and came back a minute later with her camera, “Are you two having fun?” she asked then snapped a picture as they both looked up at her.

 

“Oh no, please don’t take pictures of me like this,” Sully practically begged.

 

“Why not, didn’t I do a good job of making you look pretty?” Mary asked, her bottom lip starting to tremble a little.

 

Sully hesitated only a second before he said, “You’re doing a great job, I just don’t want her taking pictures until you’re finished.”

 

“Okay,” Mary said happily then looked to Abby, “Go away, you can take pictures when I’m done making him look pretty,” she said before picking up a butterfly barrette and going back to work.

 

“Alright, just let me know when I can come back and take more pictures,” Abby told her while trying not to laugh at the horrified look on Sully’s face as he mouthed the word ‘no‘.  Abby just smiled at him sympathetically and left to finish her book.

 

A little while later Mary came out and told Abby she was done and that she could come take pictures.  When Abby walked into the room she had to bite her lip to keep herself from bursting out laughing. In addition to the ribbons and barrettes that were now spread clear down the sides and back of Sully’s head to his shoulders, there was also a little plastic tiara placed on his head with several ribbons attached to it that trailed down around his head.  The claws on his hands had been painted with glittery blue nail polish and the claws on his toes had been done in a bright, florescent pink. To top it all off the fur on his head between the barrettes and down his arms and back was slicked down as if something had been poured over his head and from the over powering sent of lilacs Abby was sure it was perfume.

 

Finally feeling confident that she could speak without laughing Abby said, “You look so pretty and adorable,” then she turned her attention to Mary who was standing behind Sully, back up on her chair so she was able to see over his head, “You know you’re not supposed to use your nail polish without an adult around though, and you’re not supposed to use mom’s perfume,” she told her as she snapped a few pictures, ignoring the pleading look Sully was giving her.

 

“Kitty is an adult,” Mary replied.

 

Abby hesitated, part of her brain was still having a hard time wrapping around the fact that Sully was a person and not just some strange pet that had followed Mary home. The fact that she had assumed that the pictures Mary had been drawing for the last year were some type of oddly colored cat didn’t help.

 

“Okay and what about the perfume? You’re not allowed to touch that at all,” Abby pointed out.

 

“I had to, he was stinky and now he smells good,” Mary replied matter-of-factly.

 

“Mary! You shouldn’t say things like that,” Abby scolded her.

 

“But its true and mommy said always tell the truth,” Mary replied.

 

“I know, but sometimes you just shouldn’t say anything,” Abby told her.

 

“Wait, you’re agreeing with her? You think I stink?” Sully asked.

 

“Well, not horribly, but you did kind of smell like a wet dog,” Abby admitted.

 

“And you think that stinks?” Sully asked looking a little confused.

 

“Of course,” Mary replied while Abby just nodded.

 

“Okay, so monsters and humans have different ideas of what smells good,” Sully said.

 

“You like how you smell now, right?” Mary asked.

 

“It’s a little strong, but not bad,” Sully replied.

 

“Good, did I do a good job of making you look pretty,” Mary asked, picking up a mirror off of her vanity and leaning over Sully’s shoulder to put it in his hand.

 

As soon as he looked in the mirror he looked quite horrified and a little embarrassed, but as Mary jumped off of her chair and came to stand in front of him, he forced a smile and said, “Yes, I look very pretty.”

 

“You’re still in trouble for using the perfume,” Abby said.

 

“I had to,” Mary said looking up at her with large sad eyes.

 

“You should have asked first, now we’re going to have to undo all your hard work,” Abby told her.

 

“Why?” Mary asked.

 

“Because you used too much and now we’re going to have to take everything out of his hair so he can wash the perfume out or it will get sticky,” Abby explained.

 

“Really?” Mary asked.

 

“Yep, why don’t you go get some shampoo and take it into the bathroom in mom and dad’s room so he can wash it out and I’ll start getting the barrettes out of his hair,” Abby suggested.

 

“Okay,” Mary replied solemnly before leaving the room.

 

As soon as she was gone Abby said, “I can’t believe you let her do this to you.”

 

“I tried to talk her out of it, but then she said that her mom let her do it to her and that you always refuse to let her do your hair and her eyes were just so huge and sad, how can you say no to those eyes?” he asked.

 

“It’s not easy, but you learn, eventually, especially after having your hair twisted into so many knots that it takes hours to get them out,” Abby replied, then asked, “So shall we get this mess out of your fur?”

 

“Yes, please, and thank you for the excuse to not leave it like this any longer,” he told her.

 

“You’re welcome,” Abby said as she started to remove the tiara and barrettes.

 

A little while later Abby showed him to the large master bathroom with a huge hot tub like bathtub that would be plenty big enough for Sully.

 

\--

 

The rest of the day they spent playing games and then settled down to watch a movie. Mary was curled up on Sully’s chest and Abby was sitting next to him until she started to doze off and her head landed on his arm.

 

“Sorry, just a little tired,” Abby said as she jerked back awake.

 

“It’s alright, we can always finish watching this tomorrow,” he suggested.

 

“No, it’s almost over, I can stay awake that long,” Abby replied.

 

Within minutes she was dozing off again and Sully moved a little closer to her and wrapped an arm around her as her head started to tilt towards him again and finally leaned against his chest.

 

“You’re even cuddlier when you don’t smell like a wet dog,” Abby said drowsily, her fingers running through his soft fur before she finally fell completely asleep.

 

\-----

 

“I can’t believe this, what are you some type of human magnet? It’s like they just attach themselves to you and an adult one too?”

 

Abby slowly opened her eyes, then gasped and sat up pushing herself back into the couch and Sully’s arm when she spotted the large green eyeball staring at her.

 

Before she could do anything else Sully’s hand was clamped over her mouth, “Don’t scream, if you break the door again there’s no one left on the other side who knows we’re here,” he told her.

 

Abby nodded and he let her go, “I wasn’t going to scream, I told you, that was more because of stress, not fear,” she reminded him.

 

“Better safe than stuck here permanently,” he replied then said, “Abby, this is my best friend-”

 

He was cut off as Mary woke up and squealed, “Mike Wazowski!” as she jumped off of Sully and hugged him.

 

“It’s good to see you too kid,” Mike said then he looked at Abby, “So you’re the one who is responsible for blowing the fuse in the door?”

 

Abby shrugged sheepishly, “I’d had a very long, very stressful day and I kind of have a habit of screaming when I’m stressed over my limit,” she told him.

 

“Well you sure got me in trouble, my fiancé almost called off our wedding because of me sneaking around and not helping with the finale preparations,” Mike told her.

 

“I’m really sorry,” Abby said.

 

“Don’t worry about it,” Mike said.

 

“She didn’t actually call off the wedding did she?” Sully asked.

 

“No, but I kind of had to tell her that the reason I was disappearing was because my best man got stuck in the human world. It’s not so bad, now she thinks I’m sweet and wonderful for putting the door together for you and told me not to worry about any of the wedding preparations until I get you home. Since you don’t seem to be hiding from any of the humans here we could always hang out here for a few hours,” Mike suggested.

 

“Isn’t your wedding in less than twenty four hours?” Sully asked.

 

“Exactly and all the last minute details are driving me crazy,” Mike replied.

 

“That’s just because I haven’t been there to keep you from panicking, everything will be fine now that I‘m coming back,” Sully told him.

 

“Kitty leaving?” Mary asked, her eyes growing huge and filling with tears.

 

“Yes, but I’ll come back soon,” he replied.

 

“Tomorrow?” she asked.

 

“Probably not, but the next day, I promise,” he told her.

 

“I’m going to have to put up with you popping out of that closet on a regular basis aren’t I?” Abby asked trying to sound annoyed about it.

 

“Yep,” Sully replied then smiled, “I could always do the dishes for you to make up for you having to put up with me being around.”

 

Abby smiled, “Well in that case come as often as you want,” she told him.

 

A little while later after finally convincing Mary to let go of Sully the two monsters left and Abby proceeded to try to get Mary to go to bed.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day was uneventful and a part of Abby wondered if it had all been a dream, at least until the following morning. Mary had again begged Abby to sleep in her room with her and during the night Mary had shifted so she was sleeping almost sideways on the bed, her feet hanging off one side. She shifted a little more until her head was shoved into Abby’s side and Abby rolled over onto her stomach, so that she was precariously balanced at the very edge of the bed to give Mary more room. As her hand dropped off the side of the bed instead of hitting the floor it ran into fur. She ran her hand slowly through the soft fur, enjoying the feel of it until she woke up enough to realize there shouldn’t have been anything furry there, Mary didn’t even have any toys that soft.

 

She opened her eyes and found Sully asleep on the floor next to the bed. Looking at him she just couldn’t imagine him scaring children, sure he was big, but he was so cute laying there asleep using a large stuffed bunny as a pillow, she couldn’t imagine anyone being afraid of him.

 

She would have loved to get a picture of him like that, but she couldn’t get out of bed to get a camera without waking him or Mary. Finally she decided to just wake him up and find out why he was there, plus it would give her an excuse to run her fingers through his fur. She had always loved fur and his was quite possibly the softest she had ever felt. She lightly ran her fingers through the fur on his shoulder and arm until he started to wake up and looked up at her.

 

She motioned behind her and placed a finger to her lips then pointed towards the door. He got up and they both quietly stepped into the hall.

 

“What are you doing here?” Abby asked him.

 

Sully hesitated a moment, looking a little embarrassed then said, “I couldn’t sleep.”

 

“You looked like you were sleeping quite well to me,” Abby said.

 

“Once I was here I could sleep, I just couldn’t sleep at home, I- I’ve never been alone before, I lived at home until I went to college, I always had roommates in college and since college Mike and I have always shared an apartment. It just felt so empty with no one else there, so I decided to come check on Boo and I guess I was finally able to fall asleep,” he explained his eyes never leaving the floor.

 

“So the big tough scarer is afraid to be alone at night?” Abby asked and where the fur on his face wasn’t as thick she could see his face turn several shades darker, “I can’t blame you though, even with Mary here most nights I’ve had a hard time sleeping because the house just feels so empty since-” she looked down, biting her lip and fighting back tears before she finally said, “Since our parents died.”

 

Sully rested a comforting hand on Abby’s shoulder and she stepped forward to wrap her arms around him and buried her face in his fur. After a few minutes, when she was sure she wasn’t going to start crying she said, “You really are just too huggable to be scary and you even smell better today.”

 

“Really?” Sully asked looking relieved.

 

“Yeah, what is it supposed to be? It reminds me of the smell of the dirt in a forest, the really rich dirt, probably from recently decade leaves, but it’s always made me think of new life,” Abby said.

 

“That’s exactly what it’s supposed to be, forest dirt,” Sully told her.

 

“It’s a definite improvement over wet dog,” she said before letting go of him, “Why don‘t you go wait in the kitchen, I‘ll get dressed and make us some pancakes before Mary wakes up and wants to help. You wouldn‘t believe how much pancake batter she can get all over the kitchen and on herself.”

 

Sully shuddered slightly, “I can imagine, I can still remember my mom spending hours trying to get the batter out of my fur when I was little and wanted to make her a cake. It wasn‘t my fault though, if my little sister hadn‘t left her toys on the kitchen floor, I wouldn‘t have fallen with the pan before I got to the oven. By the time mom got home I had made another cake for her and most of the batter in my fur was drying out,” he told her.

 

Abby couldn’t help smiling, “You think my suffering is funny?” Sully asked failing horribly at sounding serious.

 

“Of course not, I’m just picturing you little and covered in cake batter and I’m sure it would have been a funny sight. Did your mom take pictures before she cleaned you up?” Abby asked.

 

“Yes, and they’re hidden in the back of her closet along with the rest of the embarrassing pictures she took of me, where I hope she’ll never find them and forgets about them,” Sully replied.

 

“Can I meet your mother?” Abby asked, trying not to smile.

 

“So you can tell her where I hid the pictures and look at them?” Sully asked.

 

“Exactly,” Abby replied before heading to her room to get dressed.

 

 

\--------

 

 

Abby was just finishing up the pancakes when Mary walked into the kitchen, her eyes still half closed and barely awake, “You left me,” she said drowsily.

 

“I thought I’d surprise you with pancakes,” Abby told her.

 

“Okay,” Mary said starting to head towards the dining room, still barely awake until she got to the doorway and spotted Sully who had taken the glasses of milk in to the table. Instantly she was wide awake and smiling, “Kitty!” she exclaimed before running and jumping into his arms, “You came back.”

 

“Of course I did, I told you I would,” he said then set her down in one of the chairs as Abby carried in the plate of pancakes.

 

“He actually got here sometime last night and was sleeping on your floor using your big stuffed bunny for a pillow when I woke up. He said he doesn’t like being alone now that Mike got married and moved out,” Abby told her.

 

“You’re lonely?” Mary asked.

 

“A little, but now I can spend time with you so I won’t be as lonely,” Sully told her.

 

“You should stay with us, you can stay in the guest room or my room, then you won‘t be lonely anymore,” Mary said then turned to Abby, “He can stay can’t he?”

 

Abby hesitated a moment, would it be inappropriate to have some guy she barely knew staying with them? She was so physically and emotionally exhausted that it would be nice to have someone else around to help with Mary. Not to mention easing her fears being there alone at night. Anyways he was a monster, she figured that eliminated any of the inappropriateness that would have come with having a human man in the house, this would be more like having an exceptionally intelligent guard dog in the house, “Sure, if he wants to, why not, at least for a little while until he gets use to not having anyone else around at his apartment. We’d have to be careful not to let anyone else know he’s here,” she finally replied.

 

“You’ll stay won’t you?” Mary asked looking up at Sully with huge hopeful eyes.

 

“I guess that doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” he said then asked Abby, “But are you sure about this? It won’t just be more stress for you to deal with having me around more?” Sully asked.

 

“Honestly, I’m doing this as much for myself as for you. The only night since our parents died that I haven’t fallen asleep worrying that every little creak the house makes could be someone breaking in is the night you stayed here. Before I always knew if anything happened dad would be there to protect us, now with just Mary and I here I’ve become a little paranoid. I think I‘d feel a lot safer having you around,” Abby told him then smiled, “If anyone did break in I doubt you‘d have any problem handling them.”

 

“Alright, I’ll stay. It’ll certainly make it faster to get to work, just walk through the closet and I’ll be there,” Sully said.

 

Mary cheered, jumping out of her chair to hug Sully before going back to finish her breakfast.


	4. Chapter 4

Over the next two weeks Abby and Sully started trading off every other night sleeping in Mary’s room, giving Abby a chance to sleep in her own bed without upsetting Mary by leaving her alone. Sully seemed to have developed a sixth sense, no matter how hard Abby tried to hide it, he always seemed to be able to tell when Abby was missing her parents and was always there to talk to her and distract her or offer her a shoulder to cry on. He had even snuck away after Mary was a sleep a couple of times, somehow having noticed that Abby was upset and had just held her until she had cried herself to sleep.

Everything had been going smoothly until Saturday morning. Mary was sitting in her favorite spot, cradled in Sully’s arm, while watching cartoons and Abby was starting laundry when there was a knock at the door.

Abby quickly ran up from the basement, “Sully go hide in your room,” she said as she walked through the living room.

“Are you sure I shouldn’t just leave?” Sully asked.

“No, you promised you’d stay with me all day,” Mary told him, latching on to his arm.

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t expecting anyone, I doubt it’ll be anyone I’d let in the house,” Abby told him.

“Alright, I’ll just be upstairs, okay?” he said to Mary.

“Okay,” she said before sitting down on the couch to watch her cartoons.

Once Sully was upstairs Abby opened the door and was immediately embraced in a tight hug, “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here sooner, my car broke down and four people were out sick with the flu at work, so I couldn’t get time off.”

“Kristy, I didn’t expect to see you at all until college starts again, I’d be happy to see you anytime. How long are you here for?” Abby asked noticing she had a small suitcase sitting outside the door.

“The whole weekend if I can stay here,” Kristy told her.

“Of course you can,” Abby said while trying to figure out how to sneak Sully out of the house, “It must have been a long drive, why don’t we go sit on the back porch and have something to drink?” 

“That sounds great, you can get the drinks while I get out the gifts I brought for you two,” Kristy told her.

“Okay,” Abby said before heading towards the kitchen.

When she came back a couple minutes later Kristy was gone, “Mary where did Kristy go?” she asked.

“She said she’s putting her bag in her room before she can get our gifts out,” Mary replied.

“Oh no,” Abby breathed then yelled for Kristy as she raced up the stairs two at a time.

She reached the top just as Kristy was reaching for the door to the spare bedroom, “Stop!” Abby yelled at her, “What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m putting my suitcase in my room, you know how I pack, once I open it it’ll explode from being over stuffed, I figured it would be better to open it in my room,” Kristy told her before reaching for the door again.

“You can’t go in there, it’s a mess, I should clean it up first,” Abby said.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m sure it’s fine,” Kristy said as she opened the door.

Abby ran the last several feet that separated them, just making it in time to see Kristy’s eyes grow huge and her mouth open to scream. Luckily Abby made it to her just in time to clamp her hand over Kristy’s mouth before she could actually scream. Sully was sitting on the bed, looking just as shocked to see Kristy as she was to see him.

Kristy was struggling to pry Abby’s hand off her mouth, Abby flinched as her nails dug into her hand, “Calm down, you have to calm down and promise you won’t scream if I let you go,” Abby told her.

Kristy hesitated a moment, clearly struggling to calm down then nodded her head and Abby let her go then looked at Sully, “Go down stairs and keep an eye on Mary, I’ll deal with her,” she told him.

As Sully stood up and headed downstairs Kristy plastered herself to the hallway wall as he passed them, her eyes still wide with fear. Once he was down stairs she said, “Abby why did you just send a giant monster to watch your little sister? Better yet why is there a giant terrifying monster in your house?”

“He’s not that scary,” Abby replied.

“Did you not just see that thing?” Kristy asked.

“Of course I did, he’s a giant fluff ball, he’s not that scary at all,” Abby told her.

“You’re insane,” Kristy told her.

“Maybe, but he really is harmless. Come on, I have our drinks ready, we can go sit down and I’ll tell you all about him, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else,” Abby told her.

“You know I can keep a secret if I have to, not that anyone would believe me if I did tell them about that thing,” Kristy said before following Abby downstairs and out onto the back porch.

 

\------

A little while later after Abby had finished telling Kristy about Sully and how he had ended up at the house Kristy just stared at her for a long moment.

“What is it?” Abby asked, “I know it all sounds kind of crazy, but it really isn’t so shocking that it should leave you speechless, not after seeing Sully.”

“Well the whole there’s a monster from a parallel dimension staying with you part is crazy, but that’s not the part that’s blowing me away right now,” Kristy replied.

“Then why are you staring at me like I’ve grown a second head?” Abby asked.

“Let me just make sure I heard you right, so basically this monster, Sully, is sweet, kind, good at comforting you when you’ve had a bad day, good with kids, you sound like you’re more comfortable around him and talking to him than anyone else outside of your own family and me, and he even helps clean up around the house? Plus he runs a whole company so he‘s probably pretty well off too?” Kristy asked.

“Yes, and maybe. What does that have to do with anything?” Abby asked.

Kristy grinned at her, “So is he single?” 

“He’s a big furry monster from another dimension, are you crazy?” Abby demanded.

“So? He’s also the first man I’ve ever heard you talk about without complaining about all the things they do that would drive you crazy,” Kristy told her.

Abby sat there in silence for a moment, her mind racing as she realized that Kristy was right. What she knew of him so far, if he were human he’d be everything she could have hoped for in a man. Finally she said, “Don’t call him that.”

“Don’t call him what?”

“A man, he’s just a big, fluffy, cuddly, monster. I mean I know he’s a person and all, but it’s easier not to think of him like that, if I do then it’ll just make me feel awkward hugging him so much. It’s barely been three weeks since my parents died and I still need to be able to hug him and just let him hold me without feeling awkward about it,” Abby told her.

“So it would be awkward just because he’s a guy or because he’s a guy you could like?” Kristy asked.

Abby groaned, “Okay, fine, if, ‘IF’ he were human and not a monster from another dimension, I guess I might be interested,” she reluctantly admitted. 

“So he’s tall, blue and furry, at least you seem to think he has a decent personality. Didn’t you always tell me in high school that you cared more about a guy’s personality than his looks?” Kristy asked.

“Yes,” Abby replied slowly, briefly glancing inside where she could see Sully sitting on the floor with Mary sitting behind him on the couch. When she looked back Kristy was smiling at her, “No! I’m dealing with enough stress in my life, the last thing I need now is to be considering a relationship. Anyways why would he be interested in me? Until last year he thought humans were toxic and I’m sure he has plenty of women to choose from in his own world.”

“And yet he chooses to spend his time here with you,” Kristy pointed out.

“I’m sure he’s more here for Mary, she is the reason he came in the first place,” Abby pointed out.

“Yeah, well I can still hope, I’ve been trying to find you a guy to go out with since high school and he’s the only one we’ve ever talked about that you didn’t immediately start pointing out his flaws. And no, not human and from another dimension, don’t count after as many human men as you’ve turned down,” Kristy told her.

Abby thought for a long moment then pulled a strand of blue fur off of her shirt, “He sheds,” she said holding up the fur.

Kristy gave her an unimpressed look then reached over and pulled a long brown hair off of her sleeve, “So do humans,” she pointed out.

“Fine, I give up, he’s perfect,” Abby relented, “Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go figure out how to erase this discussion from my mind, so I’m not thinking about how wonderful he is next time I’m depressed and he ends up holding me,” she said as she stood up, then added, “Plus I think I need to go rescue him.”

“Why do you think you need to rescue him?” Kristy asked.

“Because I taught Mary how to braid her dolls hair and I think she’s practicing on Sully,” Abby replied.

“You really think he’s going to just let her braid his fur?” Kristy asked.

“Yep, he has no immunity to her big sad eyes, he’ll sit there and let her torture him and act happy about it when she’s looking if it’ll make her happy,” Abby replied as they walked back into the house.

As soon as they got to where they could get a clear look at Sully, Kristy burst out laughing, and Abby bit her lip to try to stop herself from laughing, but with Kristy already laughing it wasn’t long before Abby lost control and joined her.

“What’s so funny?” Mary asked.

“They’re so overwhelmed by what a great job you’re doing that it’s making them laugh,” Sully told her, managing to sound happy while glaring at Abby and Kristy.

Sully’s fur had been braided into dozens of crooked little braids, all over his head and partway down his back. Each braid was secured with little flower, butterfly or bow shaped barrettes or small florescent ponytail holders, mostly in pink and orange. At the top of his head two little braids had been tied together at the ends to form a little heart.

“Can I take a picture?” Abby asked.

“Not until I’m done,” Mary replied, “Can I put more nail polish on his claws?” she asked.

Sully shot Abby a pleading look while mouthing the word no. Abby stood there for a long moment acting like she was debating it, “No, I think we should save the nail polish for special occasions,” she finally said, receiving a grateful, relived look from Sully until she added, “But his claws are so big I’ll bet we could even draw pictures on them for the different holidays.”

At the horrified look on Sully’s face Kristy broke down laughing again, when she’d finally regained control she quietly asked Abby, “Would he really let her do that?”

Abby walked over to the computer desk and pulled out a couple of pictures she had printed out from the last time Mary had done his hair, “Like I said, he has absolutely no immunity to her sad eyes,” she said before turning the pictures so Kristy could see them.

Within seconds Kristy was on her knees and then rolling on the floor, holding her ribs as she laughed hysterically.

“What did you do to her?” Sully asked.

“I was just showing her some pictures,” Abby replied grinning at him as she held up the pictures so he could see them.

“You printed those?” he asked, horrified.

“Of course I did, I had to have a copy to add to the photo album of all of Mary’s great artwork,” Abby replied.

“Okay,” Kristy said finally standing back up, “I can see why you don’t think he’s scary, after seeing that and this,” she motioned to where Mary was still braiding his fur, “it would be really hard to be afraid of him.”

 

\----

It wasn’t until that evening after Mary went to bed and Abby, Kristy and Sully sat down to watch a movie that Abby was finally able to help Sully get the braids, barrettes and ribbons out of his fur. Once Mary had run out of ponytail holders she had started using bits of ribbon to tie the braids and had even tried to work the ribbons through the braids, so that long pieces of ribbon trailed down beyond the end of some of the braids.

As Abby sat down on the couch behind Sully she said, “You know, she actually wasn’t doing too badly by the end, some of these are almost straight, even with the Ribbons through them. Maybe we should leave them in.”

“Are you trying to torture me?” Sully asked.

“Just a little, but you did it more to yourself, you have really got to learn how to tell her no,” Abby told him.

“I know, her eyes just get so huge and sad as soon as I try to say no that I can’t help giving in,” Sully told her.

“Well either you’ll learn to tell her no, or I’m going to get quite a nice collection of pictures of you with your fur done up all pretty. Or you’ll just go bald, it looks like she has some of these braids pretty badly knotted up,” Abby told him as she worked on taking out the first braid.

A second later there was a flash and they both looked up to see Kristy sitting in the chair with her camera out, “Don’t you think you two have already taken enough pictures to embarrass me with?” Sully asked.

“I couldn’t help it, you two look so cute together, with her trying to save you from that mess,” Kristy replied briefly smiling at Abby.

“Weren’t we supposed to be watching a movie,” Abby asked, while blushing and glaring at Kristy before she grab the DVD player remote and hit play on their movie.

-

Abby had managed to get all of the braids out and almost all of the knots out before she had finally leaned back against the couch, struggling unsuccessfully not to doze off before their second movie ended.

When the movie finally ended, well after one in the morning Kristy moved over to sit next to Abby and started petting Sully’s head, “What are you doing?” Sully asked.

“Abby said you have the softest fur she’s ever felt and I wanted to see if it was true. I have to say I think she’s right,” Kristy told him.

“It’s even softer where it’s longer on his back and the fur on his chest is really soft too,” Abby told her not waking enough to open her eyes.

“Oh, you’re right,” Kristy said stroking her fingers through the fur on his back then asked, “Can I feel your chest?”

“No,” Abby said slipping off of the couch and dropping into Sully’s lap then wrapping her arms around him, pressing her face into his chest, “You can have his back, his chest is mine.”

“Oh fine, be that way, but if you ever decide you don’t want him, I want him,” Kristy said then asked, “Sully, do you have a girlfriend?”

“Uh, no, why do you want to know?” Sully asked.

“Because you’re just too perfect to be single, so we’re going to have to change that and since Abby and I are both single I figure you should start dating one of us,” Kristy told him laying her head against the back of his shoulder. 

“I think I should take Abby to bed,” Sully said carefully, but quickly getting up with Abby cradled in his arms, while nearly making Kristy fall off the couch.

“Well I guess that settles which of us you prefer,” Kristy said then added, “See Abby I told you he likes you, can I be you maid of honor at the wedding?”

“Hm, of course,” Abby replied drowsily then started giggling though her eyes remained closed, “Can you imagine how cute he‘d be in a suit?”

“Oh that would be cute,” Kristy agreed laughing, then grew serious again, “Do I get to be the godmother to your furry little babies?”

“Of course, I’ll bet they’ll be adorable little fluff balls just like their daddy,” Abby said.

“Okay, I really think you need to get some sleep,” Sully said then added, “Kristy you can take the spare room, I’ll stay with Mary.”

“Why, aren’t you going to sleep with Abby?” Kristy asked then burst out laughing, “I guess you should wait until you’re married to do that.”

“It’s my night to stay with Mary, she’s been having nightmares and waking up crying so Abby and I have been switching off staying with her at night. Anyways, at this point she’s the only female in the house that I think I’ll be safe with,” Sully replied before quickly heading upstairs.

When he laid Abby down on her bed and started to cover her up she half opened her eyes and asked, “Can we have lots of cute furry babies?”

Sully gently brushed some hair back from her face, his fingers brushing lightly over her cheek, “Whatever you want, as long you’re fully awake and thinking clearly when you want it,” he said.

She smiled contently and started to fall asleep, but for a second thought she felt him kiss her forehead before he left the room.

\---------

The next morning Abby woke up and ran into the guest room, shaking Kristy awake she asked, “Please tell me that you didn’t really ask Sully if he was single and that we weren’t discussing furry babies,”

Kristy’s face went white as she sat up, “Oh my gosh, I think we were, I was so tired I can’t remember it very clearly, but if we both remember furry babies it must have been real,” she said.

“Just kill me now, save me from dying of embarrassment,” Abby said collapsing onto the side of the bed and burring her face in her hands.

“Why should I have to be the one to put you out of your misery?” Kristy asked.

“Because this is your fault, if not for you I could have gone on contently thinking of him as an intelligent pet that followed my sister home, instead of a nearly perfect guy,” Abby replied.

“Well, what about Mary? She still needs you,” Kristy pointed out.

“Sully can adopt her, he already seems to love her like she’s his own daughter,” Abby replied.

“Yeah, but he’d spoil her rotten, embarrassed or not, you have to stick around, at least until he builds up an immunity to her puppy dog eyes,” Kristy told her then got out of bed and pulled Abby up, “Come on, no point in trying to avoid the inevitable.”

When they got downstairs Mary was sitting in the living room playing with her toys and Sully was in the kitchen putting the dishes away.

“You’ve got to admit it’s nice to see a man who will help around the house,” Kristy said.

“I have a mother and a sister who hate to do dishes, and I quickly learned that if I did the dishes for either of them they would be so pleased that I’d get some small reward, so it eventually just became a habit to help around the house,” Sully told her, “How did you two sleep?” 

“Fine,” they both replied then Abby said, “Sully about last night-”

“Yeah, what exactly happened last night? I must have been really tired, we were up a lot later than usual. All I can remember is watching a movie and then something happening that reminded of my sister and her friends when they’d have sleepovers and stay up until they were all slaphappy and crazy, but I don’t really remember any details,” he said.

“Well, um-” Abby faltered.

“We were actually going to ask you the same thing, we must have all been really tired,” Kristy said before quickly dragging Abby out of the room then letting out a relived sigh, “Well it looks like we’re saved from the embarrassment.”

“I guess,” Abby said distractedly.

“What’s wrong? Shouldn’t you be relieved?” Kristy asked.

“Yeah, it just doesn’t make sense, from what I can remember he didn’t seem anywhere near as out of it as we were. I know I’m used to being to bed by ten or so, but he’s told me before he occasionally has late nights at work, so it’s not like he’s not use to being up late,” Abby told her.

“So either he just had a long day and was tired yesterday or he’s pretending not to remember to avoid embarrassing you, which is kind of sweet,” Kristy said.

“Yeah, but still embarrassing,” Abby pointed out.

“So just assume he really doesn’t remember unless you see some evidence that he does,” Kristy said.

“I guess I don’t have much of a choice,” Abby agreed before they headed back to the kitchen to get breakfast.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marry Christmas!

A few days later Mr. Harrison showed up at the door for the fourth time since Sully had been staying there. As usual it was nearly ten at night when he showed up pounding on the door. This time he had a piece of paper that he handed to Abby.

 

“What is this?” Abby asked.

 

“It’s a survey of our properties and according to the surveyors the fence that your family put up between our properties is actually five inches into my property and I want it removed within the next twenty four hours or I’ll file charges,” he told her.

 

“If you want it removed, remove it yourself,” Abby said before shutting the door in his face.

 

As soon as Abby stepped into the living room she threw herself into Sully’s waiting arms, “I can’t stand him, he just won’t back off. And just so he can build his business right next door to his house. My parent’s built this house, my mom insisted that I be born in this house and I was. She loved this house so much, even when I was a baby she had a will made up saying if anything happened to my parents that the house had to be kept and given to me. My whole life is in this house, I could never part with it, but he’s driving me so crazy,” Abby said.

 

“Isn’t there anything you can do to stop him?” Sully asked.

 

“I don’t think so, he hasn’t really done anything illegal, he just keeps trying to convince me to sell him the house and showing up late at night,” Abby replied then jumped slightly when she heard a loud clang from outside.

 

They both went to look out the window into the back yard and could see Mr. Harrison taking a large hammer to the metal fence.

 

A moment later Mary wandered down the stairs, bleary eyed and barely awake, she asked, “What’s all the noise?”

 

“It’s nothing to worry about, go back to bed, it’ll stop soon,” Sully told her, and she turned and trudged back upstairs.

 

“It’ll be over soon?” Abby asked raising an eyebrow.

 

“Go out there and tell him to go away until tomorrow or you’ll send your attack kitty after him,” Sully told her smiling.

 

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, I mean actually letting him see you?” Abby asked.

 

“It’ll be dark, he won’t get that good of look at me and maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll go away,” Sully replied, “Anyways, even if he told anyone, who would believe him if he’s the only one to see me?”

 

“Okay,” Abby said before heading out the back door.

 

“Look, my sister is trying to sleep, don’t you think you could do that tomorrow?” Abby asked him.

 

“Nope, I’m busy tomorrow and you gave me permission to do it,” he replied.

 

“I didn’t give you permission to do it tonight,” Abby told him.

 

“Well then you should have been more specific,” he said.

 

“I’m being specific now, stop it,” Abby told him.

 

“I’ve already started and I never quit a job half done,” he replied.

 

“Okay, if you haven’t stopped in the next thirty seconds I’m going to send my attack kitty out here after you,” Abby told him.

 

“Go right ahead, I’m not afraid of some stupid little cat,” he said.

 

“Oh you should be, but I guess you’ll have to learn that the hard way,” Abby said before turning and heading back into the house.

 

“No luck?” Sully asked.

 

“Nope,” Abby replied.

 

“Good, I’ve been wanting to do this to him since the last time he was over here trying to convince you to sell the place. Stay in here,” Sully said before turning off the back porch light and stepping outside.

 

Once he was outside he picked up a rock and threw it, hitting the light on the back of Mr. Harrison’s house, leaving the whole back yard dark although it didn‘t seem to bother Mr. Harrison. Sully then crouched down and slowly made his way along the fence which was fully covered by roses which helped to keep him hidden. As he got out of sight Abby quietly slipped out onto the porch where she could hide in the shadows, but still see what was happening.

 

As Sully reached the section of the fence Mr. Harrison was still trying to teardown, he suddenly jumped up, towering over him and let out a roar so loud that Abby could feel it reverberate through her chest and she hoped he hadn’t woken half the neighborhood.

 

Sully grabbed Mr. Harrison by the front of his shirt, Mr. Harrison was saying something, then Sully said something to him, but Abby couldn’t hear any of it and then Sully dropped him. As soon as he hit the ground he scrambled back to his feet and raced into his house, slamming the door behind him.

 

“Abby I told you to stay in the house,” Sully said when he spotted Abby on the porch.

 

“I just wanted to see what you were going to do,” Abby replied, “I can see now how you might have been able to scare kids,” she told him as she headed back into the house, “You even got my heart racing with that roar,” she admitted as she turned the lights on then turned back to face him and froze when she saw the look of concern on his face as he seemed to search her face for something, “What’s wrong?”

 

“I didn’t scare you?” he asked.

 

Realization quickly hit Abby, he had told her about accidentally scaring Mary and was clearly afraid of the same thing happening again. Abby just threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly, “I don’t think you could ever scare me. I think you were absolutely amazing,” she told him.

 

“Amazing, really?” Sully asked smiling slightly.

 

“Totally,” Abby replied taking a step back.

 

“I didn’t even know I could still pull it off, I haven’t roared like that since-” he hesitated, his smile disappearing as he finished, “Since I scared Boo.”

 

“Hey, don’t worry about that, if she even still remembers that, it clearly doesn’t bother her and she knows you’d never hurt her,” Abby told him, then asked, “So what did you tell him?”

 

“Well he was already begging me not to eat him, so I just told him that’s exactly what I would do if he ever bothers you again. Hopefully he couldn’t tell how disgusted I was by the thought and believed it,” Sully replied.

 

“I’m sure he was too terrified to notice,” Abby told him before yawning, “Do you mind if we finish the movie tomorrow? I just feel totally wiped out.”

 

“Of course not, you’ve looked exhausted all day, go sleep in your own bed and get a sound night’s sleep,” Sully told her.

 

“Are you sure? It’s my night to stay with Mary,” Abby pointed out.

 

“Don’t worry about it, she didn’t fidget as much as usual last night and I got plenty of sleep,” Sully replied.

 

“Alright, goodnight,” Abby told him before heading upstairs.

 

\------------

 

 

Abby woke up to Sully gently shaking her shoulder, “Abby, I need you to wake up,” he said.

 

“Why?” Abby asked as she rolled over to look at him, at first nothing seemed out of place, except that it was the middle of the night, Mary was curled up cradled in Sully’s arm, but then she realized how pale she looked. Abby quickly sat up, then hesitated a moment as pain shot through her head and she felt a little dizzy, “What’s wrong with her?” she asked as she got up and threw on her bathrobe.

 

“I think she has a fever, she woke up complaining that she’s cold, but she feels like she’s burning up and she threw up,” Sully told her.

 

“I was afraid of this, Kristy emailed me last night and told me she had caught that flu that was going around where she worked, Mary probably caught it from her,” she said as she took Mary from him, then asked, “Is it safe for you to be here? Can you catch human diseases and could they be more dangerous for you?”

 

“No, scarers go through some major vaccinations before being able to come into the human world. If it’s just the flu I’ll be fine, last I heard our vaccinations prevent us from getting any variation of it.” Sully told her, then added, “But if you can handle her for a little while I think I’ll go take a shower, she threw up down my back,” Sully told her.

 

“I’m sorry Kitty,” Mary told him.

 

“It’s alright, it wasn’t your fault,” Sully told her, brushing a comforting hand over her head before leaving to clean up.

 

Twenty minutes later Mary was medicated and back asleep and Abby was sitting on the side of her bed watching her sleep.

 

“Are you okay? You’re not looking so good yourself,” Sully quietly asked as he walked into the room.

 

“I’m fine, I just have a headache,” Abby told him.

 

“Well then you go get some sleep and I’ll stay with her,” Sully told her, when Abby looked like she would protest he added, “I’ll come get you if she wakes up or her fever gets any worse.”

 

“Alright,” she relented before heading back to bed.

 

\--

 

Abby woke up the next morning to her head feeling like someone was twisting a knife in it and her stomach churning. She made a mad dash for the bathroom, barely making it before her stomach emptied itself into the toilet while she struggled to support herself with one hand and keep her hair out of the way with the other. Barely a second later a large hand gathered her hair and held it back for her, another hand resting comfortingly on her back.

 

“Thank,” she said once she was sure her stomach was completely emptied. When she stood up pain shot through her head and she felt dizzy, she grabbed her head with one hand and the edge of the sink with the other to steady herself.

 

“Are you alright?” Sully asked resting a hand on her shoulder.

 

“Yeah, I always get really bad headaches when I’m sick, I’m a little dizzy too,” Abby told him before she grabbed a bottle of mouthwash and rinsed the bad taste out of her mouth.

 

“Are you okay now?” Sully asked.

 

“Well I don’t think I’m going to throw up anymore,” Abby replied then gasped as Sully swept her up into his arms and carried her back to her bed, “I can’t stay in bed, I have to take care of Mary and you need to get to work before you’re late,” she told him.

 

“Just rest for a minute,” Sully told her before leaving the room.

 

A little while later he came back in carrying a tray with all the flu medicine for both Mary and Abby, as well as two bowls of soup, “Mary told me when you’re sick you should have chicken soup, so I made some of that for you,” he told her as he set the tray on the bed then left, coming back a moment later with Mary who he placed in the bed next to Abby, “There, you can keep an eye on her without having to leave your bed. I’ll be back later,” he told her before leaving.

 

Abby and Mary finished eating and Mary was asleep and Abby was dozing off when Sully came back into the room, “What are you doing back so soon?” Abby asked just barely managing to work up the energy to open her eyes.

 

“I’m taking at least today and tomorrow off and will take care of you two until you’re feeling better,” Sully told her.

 

Abby smiled tiredly at him, “Thank you so much, I don’t know how I’d get by without you,” she told him before going back to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not the best chapter, I have bits and pieces written and then several chapters for later in the story and haven’t been having any luck filling in between, so I’m just going to skip some time so I can get on with the story.

 

 

Almost two months had passed since Sully had scared Mr. Harrison and Abby hadn’t heard from him since, the few times she’d seen him outside he had quickly disappeared back into his house. Mary had finally gotten to the point she would sleep alone, something that was a great relief to Abby since Sully wasn’t there to help with Mary as often. Due to his family noticing that he hadn’t been home very often he had started sleeping at his apartment half the time, although he would still stay over for movie and game nights. Those nights usually ended with Sully stuck on the couch, Mary curled up asleep on his chest and about half the time with Abby having slumped over to sleep with her head on his shoulder.

 

How many of those times she had actually fallen asleep before her head was on his shoulder and how many she had faked being asleep just to get close to him, she wasn’t sure. All she was sure of was the less she fell apart about losing her parents, the less she would end up with Sully holding her and the more she longed to be in his arms, where she felt safer and more at peace than she could recall ever feeling before. It worried her how much she was falling in love with Sully, mainly because she was sure he’d never feel the same way about her, they were just too different. As successful and well-known as he was in his own world he could probably have any woman he wanted and someone of his own kind.

 

Abby was sitting at the kitchen table with her laptop while Mary watched TV, when Sully walked in after work, “Are you okay? You look stressed,” he asked.

 

“I’m fine, I just don’t think I’m going to get in my last year of college until Mary is old enough to go to school. I don’t want to send her to daycare and mom and dad’s insurance should cover things until then. Already took two years off after high school before I started college, couple more years won’t hurt,” Abby explained.

 

“What about a babysitter?” Sully asked.

 

“Same as daycare, I’ve thought about it, but she’s all I have left, I can’t convince myself to trust anyone else with her. I know it’s silly and over protective, but I just can’t help it,” Abby replied.

 

“Would you trust me?” Sully asked.

 

“Completely, but you have to work, I’m sure you can’t take that type of time off,” Abby said.

 

“Actually, we have a couple people in the company, a single mother and a couple who both work there. We let them bring their kids with them all the time. Even have an office baby sitter who takes care of a bunch of the kids, but it would be no problem to keep Boo with me,” Sully told her.

 

“What if someone finds out she’s human, you said the costume you made for her before wasn’t that great,” Abby asked.

 

“I have a sister who runs a costume shop, incredible costumes, no one would have a clue that Boo is human,” Sully said.

 

Abby hesitated a moment then asked, “Are you sure it wouldn’t be too much trouble?”

 

“It won’t be any trouble at all. I run the company, aside from inspections around the place and meetings it’s a boring office job. Having Boo around would be a well needed change of pace and I can make sure any meetings are scheduled around your classes,” Sully assured her.

 

“Thank you so much. I don’t know what I would do without you,” Abby told him.

 

“It’s nothing. I know exactly what would happen to both of us if I weren’t here, your life would be more difficult and my life would be boring and lonely,” Sully said.

 

“Lonely? Don’t you have any family or friends to spend time with? What about Mike?” Abby asked.

 

“Since he got married Mike and I only really hang out together once every week or two outside of work. Don’t really have any other close friends and while I see my family regularly, they all have their own lives. Most of the time I’m on my own and now that I have you and Boo in my life I’m glad I don’t have anyone else who would notice me disappearing so much,” Sully replied, “Now you said this historic costume design you’re taking at college is making clothes, right?”

 

“Exactly, just old fashioned clothes,” Abby replied.

 

“So you should know what measurements my sister would need to make Boo a costume?” Sully asked.

 

“Yes, I’ll get them for you before you leave,” Abby said as she stood up and smiled, “I think we should make sure Mary is alright with this plan though. I don’t think she’s even noticed you’re here yet.”

 

They both walked up behind the couch where Mary was laying on her stomach, watching cartoons.

 

“Mary, can I talk to you for-”

 

Abby was cut off when Mary turned her head to look at her and spotted Sully, “Kitty!” she cried out as she climbed up onto the back of the couch and launched herself into his arms. After a moment she turned her attention back to Abby, “You sound serious, what do you wanna talk about?” she asked.

 

“Well, I’m not sure you’ll like this idea,” Abby said slowly, “If I go back to college I’m going to have to have someone babysit you.”

 

“I don’t wanna a babysitter,” Mary said crossing her arms and pouting.

 

“What if Sully was the one babysitting you?” Abby asked.

 

Mary’s face lit up and she looked up at Sully’s face, “I get to stay with you?” she asked.

 

Sully smiled, “Yep, although you’ll have to wear a costume and can’t let anyone know you’re human.”

 

“We did that before, I can do that again,” Mary told him.

 

\-------

 

 

A couple weeks later they fell into the regular schedule, Abby had fit her classes into three days a week and on those days Sully would get Mary as soon as he got to work and bring her home in the evening.

 

Abby dropped her head a little too hard onto the book on the table in front of her and let out a frustrated groan.

 

“That sounded like it hurt, are you alright?” Sully asked.

 

Abby looked up just in time to turn to catch Mary as she ran to hug her, “How was your day?” Abby asked her.

 

“I beat Kitty and Mike at Chutes and Ladders four times!” Mary told her excitedly, “Can I watch cartoons?”

 

“Of course you can,” Abby said setting Mary down.

 

“Now, what has you looking so stressed?” Sully asked as he walked over to Abby.

 

“Math, I’ve always sucked at math, but I have to have this math class to graduate and I feel like it’s never going to stick, even if I ever manage to figure it out,” Abby replied.

 

Sully leaned in, glancing over her shoulder for a moment before grabbing a chair and sitting down next to her, “I had to learn this when I became CEO, I’ll help you.”

 

An hour later Abby’s homework was not only done, but what had always made as much sense as gibberish now made sense. Abby had another thing to love about Sully, he was a patient and wonderful teacher.


End file.
